No, not in CA. I mean, you saw those gorgeous pictures of the coastline, right? We’re not even close to Tornado Country  anymore, thank God.

But our old home was hit by a bunch of tornados yesterday. We got reports all afternoon from friends, texting us from their bathtubs, worried about loved ones who were still out and about. Tornados happen every spring, but usually only on the outskirts of Dallas (aka, an hour away). It was always hard to explain to other how large the DFW metroplex really is– while a tornado was ripping something up a good 75 miles away, the sun could be shining where we were. It was like someone being concerned about a neighborhood in Whittier being disturbed when one lives in Santa Barbara.

But the reports that were coming in yesterday had me worried. These weren’t “tornado sightings”, these were actual tornados, dozens of them, all over the metroplex, leaving trails of wreckage. And a few were even headed straight for downtown Dallas where our old church stands.

One of the suburbs hit hardest was Arlington, home of the Cowboys Stadium and Rangers Ballpark. Thankfully, these structures were not hit at all (Arlington is the 49th largest city in the US, so the tornados were in another place entirely), but the news did mention a section of Arlington– Kennedale– that I know well, mainly because our dear friends the Pothoffs live there. It’s also where my car always used to break down on my way to and from teaching at St. Peter’s Classical School. Ah, good times, good times.

But everyone’s safe and sound, thank God. Storms like this only happen in DFW every 5-10 years– a big tornado that ripped up entire sections of downtown Fort Worth happened about 5 years before we moved there, 9 years ago, so I guess it was about time for another. Here are a few pictures though.

I only saw hail like this once or twice while living in Dallas-- yikes! This is why we paid extra $ for a garage 🙂 It's also why I laughed at everyone getting all amazed/scared at the slight sprinkling of hail we had in CA a few weeks ago. My question was, "Is it bigger than a golf ball? Because we should move our car, if so."

I used to drive by this sign every day on my way to work

One of the hardest hit suburbs was Lancaster, about 30 miles southeast of Downtown Dallas. This was from the tornado that was headed towards Dallas, but veered towards Arlington instead

A home in Arlington, near where our friends live

At least a dozen, just like this one, occurred all over

Also in Arlington...yup, those are flying semi trucks

More pics here:

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